A happy, happy birthday.

Isaac had a wonderful birthday, starting with cake for breakfast (sort of). As I think I've mentioned, when we're in Nebraska Grandpa Gene takes Isaac to the local cafe for coffee (though Grandpa just has diet soda). For Isaac's birthday, he ordered a cake and Isaac was able to share it with some of his morning friends. Unfortunately many of his guy coffee buddies were in Vegas for the weekend, but his lady friends (Opal, Dorothy, Emma, and Julie) and one guy friend (Mr. Hall, with whom he actually shares his birthday) were there and happy to have some 9 a.m. cake with Ike. For the record, I gave him some oatmeal beforehand.

The Sunday after his birthday we had a party at Grandma Anne and Grandpa Gene's house. Lots of aunts, uncles, cousins, and even Mommy's bff Katie and her boys made it to the party. Isaac had an Elmo cake courtesy of my very talented Aunt Betty, and the famous Baldwin choir performed Happy Birthday not once, but twice. The Baldwin family is horrible at Happy Birthday, but we sing it with a lot of love. He seemed disappointed when our music stopped, so we just went ahead and sang again! Isaac had a great day, so many people where there, and he got too many fabulous presents for just one little boy. Thanks to my cousin Chris who took the pictures posted here. Chris also gave Isaac four rolls of toilet paper for him to unroll all by himself, because Chris knows what one-year-olds really love--that and he reads my facebook updates where I may have mentioned Isaac's current passion for unrolling toilet paper.

"Happy birthday to me."


Sharing some cake with Uncle Justin

Checking out his cake as we sing "Happy Birthday."

More Nebraska

Isaac and I are still in Nebraska, where he spends almost every morning and lots of afternoons hanging out with Grandpa while I work on my dissertation. They go for coffee, visit Grandma at work, walk around town with the stroller, and play in Grandma and Grandpa's long living room. He also loves performing for his Grandma and charming her with a new smile where he squints his eyes, tilts his face up, and shows his four teeth. At dinner last weekend, Grandma gave him some Cool Whip. Isaac liked it, so she gave him some more. I said, "Okay, that's enough." She put the Cool Whip down. Isaac was disappointed. No problem, though--when I turned away, Grandpa gave him some. Isaac's life in Nebraska is pretty good. While we've been here, Isaac has learned to climb inside cabinets, move down the stairs (though he never goes more than a couple steps down before he starts back up them again), throw a ball (his dad has already taught him to kick), and bounce his body up and down when asked to shake his booty. He's not walking on his own yet, but his skill at moving along furniture is increasingly impressive, and he has conquered his fear of the vacuum cleaner (though I won't be totally convinced until we return to Idaho and run our vacuum cleaner at home). Uncle Justin has been here both weekends, and Isaac often leans toward him with his arms out. Justin is pretty tall and when he's holding him, Isaac looks around with this sort of calm, "I am king of the world," sort of look on his face. When Isaac and I skype with his dad at night, Isaac likes to stand up on my lap and lean on his hands against the computer screen, getting his own face as close to Ricci's as he can. He also likes to play with the computer keyboard which isn't as entertaining for me as it is for him. His first birthday is now just two days away, so we've been singing Happy Birthday to him occasionally. At church on Sunday, my parents' congregation sang to him (and two other people with birthdays this week) and he was pretty entertained, so he should handle his birthday party with no problem at all. I still have pictures from our trip to Arizona to add, but it turns out the cord for my camera didn't make it into my suitcase, so I'm limited to the pics on my cellphone. I'll post the AZ pics when we get home.

Doing some rearranging...

conquering fear....

and being adorable.

Ike's New Job

Today, Isaac visited Grandma Anne at work and did some filing for her. His 11 monthiversary (thanks to his Aunty Cara for that oh-s0-useful term) seems to have passed without a blog entry. Isaac and Mommy have been traveling while Dad is doing another away rotation in Southern Utah. Since Valentines day, we've been in Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Tucson, and now Nebraska. More on those travels in a later update. For now, I'll just update you on some of Isaac's recent milestones, habits, and hobbies. I was mistaken in my last update--Isaac did learn to crawl on his hands and knees, and we haven't seen the worm since. He's pretty quick, and his separation anxiety has lessened quite a bit so he's exploring further and further from us. He's become an expert at holding onto someone's fingers and walking around. He's also very adept at climbing up stairs but hasn't figured out how to get down them yet. Just in the past few days, he's started occasionally letting go of whatever he's holding onto at the moment to stand independently. Isaac now has four teeth, including both outside incisors on the top and the front two middle teeth on the bottom. There's still no sign of the top two front teeth, but the fang look he has going on is actually pretty cute. He enjoys emptying drawers and cabinets, but usually he doesn't pay much attention to whatever he's removing. He just tosses it over his shoulder or to the side then reaches for the next thing. He also loves power cords, venetian blinds, and (as always) his Mom's phone. Things that roll, spin, or have buttons are also favorites. Last week he started using his index finger to point at things, and now frequently points at objects, sometimes babbling about them at the same time. He also seems to be able to sign "more" but he sometimes just claps instead. Isaac is a mobile, changing kid, and I promise more updates soon.